A Pennsylvania physician sues his billing company for more than $100,000 in lost revenue after thousand of patient records were wiped from the billing company’s computer. Bholo Roy, MD claims that more than 100 clients lost data after the billing service’s computer failed with no usable backup. Roy concludes, “It is all in the cloud, and if the cloud disappears someday, we are all in trouble.”

MGMA finds that almost 80 percent of medical practices deemed “better performers” use patient-satisfaction surveys to evaluate and improve practice operations. About 10 percent of the better-performing practices use patient-satisfaction survey results as part of their physician compensation formula.

Join me in giving a big shout out to ESD, HIStalk Practice’s newest Platinum sponsor. ESD has been a HIStalk sponsor since 2009 and recently opted to extend their support to both HIStalk Practice and HIStalk Connect. ESD is one of the country’s largest HIT consulting firms and works with organizations to implement new or upgraded systems or just make existing systems work better. Their clinical professionals know all facets of HIT and can help with EMR implementations, staff augmentation and training, ICD-10 readiness, project management, physician help desk, and more. Solutions expertise includes Allscripts, NextGen, and Epic. For the last three years ESD has been named a Best Place to Work in Healthcare based on employee retention, employee benefits, and economic success. I also happen to know they a fun bunch since they hosted a very lively HIStalkapalooza in 2012 and brought a top-notch bowling team to this year’s event. Thanks to the ESD folks for supporting HIStalk Practice.

NextGen announces NextPen Voice, a pen that accepts either voice or written input depending on user preferences and activities.

E-MDs recognizes its customer Jennifer Brull, MD (KS) for being named an 2013 EHR All-Star for her use of EHR to improve quality care and increase practice profitability.

Beacon Medical Group (IN) will deploy Phytel’s population health management and enterprise care management products for its 145-physician practice.

DrFirst launches Patient Advisor Report Card, which advices physicians of prescription fill rates at the point of care and sends alerts patients of unfilled prescriptions.

Doctors blame EMRs for slowing them down and reducing productive face-time with patients, according to a physician practice preference survey. Physicians point to declining reimbursements and administrative hassles as the top reasons for income dissatisfaction and express frustration with the limits of hospital contracts and pay structures. A third of the 1,474 physicians and staff survey say a portion of their compensation is tied to quality and cost of care provided.